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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers check a protester in Minneapolis on February 3, 2026. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved <\/p>\n
The anti-immigration policies of the Trump administration, enforced\u00a0mainly by\u00a0the immigration police ICE, are dividing the Swiss expatriate community in the United States. Some see the\u00a0crackdown as the rise of an authoritarian regime, while others defend it as a necessary fight against illegal immigration.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
This content was published on <\/p>\n
February 12, 2026 – 09:00\n<\/p>\n
Minneapolis, a major city in the upper Midwest of the United States, has been\u00a0in\u00a0the spotlight for several weeks. The population and\u00a0the\u00a0state authorities are opposing the actions of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and Border Patrol agents, who are tasked with arresting undocumented immigrants. The killing of two American citizens by federal agents sent shockwaves across the country and beyond.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the Trump administration announced last week that it was pulling 700 ICE agents out of Minneapolis, the situation\u00a0remains\u00a0tense in the state of Minnesota\u2019s most populous city. Some 2,000 police officers are to remain\u00a0in place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Dominique met her American husband in Geneva. <\/p>\n
courtoisie <\/p>\n
Different realities just miles apart\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live in the neighbourhood where\u00a0Alex Pretti<\/a>\u00a0was killed [on January 24],\u201d says Dominique*. \u201cThe day before that, I came face to face with ICE agents in a convenience store. They were\u00a0very aggressive, pulling people by their clothes and spraying them with gas. I was horrified and really scared.\u201d The 74-year-old Swiss woman from Vevey is married to an American and has been living in the\u00a0US\u00a0since 1981.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Dominique, Karin Stricker,\u00a068,\u00a0lives with her American husband in downtown Minneapolis. She, too, is distressed by what she\u00a0witnesses\u00a0every\u00a0day. \u201cWhen I see ICE cars or agents, I avoid them. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0feel safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Their reality is very different from that of David W.\u00a0M\u00f6rker,\u00a059. A delegate to the Council of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad for the United States,\u00a0M\u00f6rker, who hails from Bern, says he has never come across any ICE or Border Patrol cars or agents in the city. Living in the outskirts of Minneapolis, he is aware that he has so far been \u201cspared\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Urban-rural divide\u00a0<\/p>\n Karin Stricker and her husband Alex Lee. <\/p>\n courtoisie <\/p>\n Stricker, who is originally from canton Schaffhausen, devotes part of her retirement to giving ski lessons to people with disabilities. \u201cIn the resorts where I work, you get no idea of what\u2019s going on in the city,\u201d she says. \u201cBut now ICE agents are starting to move into the countryside, and that\u2019s when people may start to think differently.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to understand that two political camps coexist in Minnesota,\u201d\u00a0M\u00f6rker\u00a0explains.\u00a0\u201cThe Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area is Democratic, while the rest of the state is Republican.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Although 51.1% of Minnesota voters cast their ballots for Democratic\u00a0candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, the map of results by county clearly shows Republican dominance in\u00a0the vast majority of\u00a0them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kai Reusser \/ SWI swissinfo.ch <\/p>\n The \u201cTwin Cities\u201d metropolitan area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul is not, however, the first major city where the White House has deployed its federal agents. Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina,\u00a0have already been\u00a0the target of similar operations. But it is in Minneapolis that federal forces have\u00a0encountered\u00a0the strongest resistance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe resistance by the authorities and people in Minnesota is driving Donald Trump crazy.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0continuing his vendetta here,\u201d says Dominique.\u00a0<\/p>\n North-south clash\u00a0<\/p>\n Chris Stern lives in Florida. Like\u00a0M\u00f6rker, he is a delegate to the Council of the Swiss Abroad. According to him, Swiss citizens living in the northern and southern states of the United States do not share the same view of the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christ Stern has lived in the United States since 1996. <\/p>\n ASO <\/p>\n \u201cNationwide, the majority of counties are conservative; even more so in the South,\u201d\u00a0says Stern. Together with another delegate, he covers the southern states, and as such represents around 17,000 Swiss citizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Swiss living in the southern states are mostly politically conservative [centre and right]. They do not approve of illegal immigration,\u201d says the dual citizen, who is Swiss on his mother\u2019s side (from Zurich) and American on his father\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As Stern sees it, there is broad support for the enforcement of existing immigration laws among Swiss citizens abroad in his region.\u00a0\u201cAfter many\u00a0years of inconsistent or selective enforcement, current actions by authorities are widely perceived as a return to institutional normalcy rather than an extraordinary development.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to\u00a0M\u00f6rker\u00a0and Stern, who\u00a0represent\u00a0some 47,000 of the more than 84,700 Swiss citizens living in the United States, the Swiss community is saddened by the situation, but many of its members agree that action was needed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n David W. M\u00f6rker went to the United States to study and remained there after meeting his wife. <\/p>\n zVg <\/p>\n \u201cThe Swiss community in Minnesota is following the situation closely. [\u2026] Within the community, a calm, nuanced exchange of views is taking place about the law, human\u00a0dignity\u00a0and the rule of law. [\u2026] What many here feel is concern and compassion, not panic,\u201d writes\u00a0M\u00f6rker, for whom \u201crespect for human dignity and the principles of the rule of law remain a cornerstone, even in difficult times\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018A real authoritarian regime\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n Dominique from Vevey, meanwhile, is forthright in her criticism: \u201cI am\u00a0very disappointed\u00a0in this government. I never thought things would go this far.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a real authoritarian regime.\u201d ICE, she says, will arrest anyone who is \u201cunlucky enough to have been fined for drunk driving,\u00a0or simply has an accent,\u201d regardless of whether they are a foreign national or US citizen.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stricker echoes this. \u201cThey drag people out of their cars, from their homes, arrest people who are peacefully protesting and take them who knows where,\u201d she says, referring to five-year-old\u00a0Liam<\/a>\u00a0and his father, who were arrested in Minneapolis, detained and then released in Texas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n She compares ICE to the Gestapo, the\u00a0secret police of Nazi Germany. \u201cAlready a year ago, I said we were entering a fascist era.\u201d She sees similarities between the methods used in the United States today and the scenes described by Anne Frank in her\u00a0diaryExternal link<\/a>, for instance when \u201cchildren come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Switzerland and the United States\u00a0 <\/p>\n According to\u00a02024 figures<\/a>\u00a0from the Federal Statistical Office, 84,739 Swiss nationals are registered as living in the United States, making it the third-largest Swiss community in the world after France and Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n The country is Switzerland\u2019s second-largest trading partner worldwide, after the EU. It is the main destination for Swiss exports and direct investments abroad, according to the\u00a0Swiss foreign ministryExternal link<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In spring 2025, trade relations between Switzerland and the United States suffered a heavy blow when the latter announced plans to slap a 39% tariff on Swiss imports, as part of the trade war waged by US President Donald Trump. Since then, customs duties have been lowered to\u00a015%External link<\/a>, but the situation\u00a0remains\u00a0uncertain.\u00a0<\/p>\n * Name known to\u00a0Swissinfo\u00a0<\/p>\n Edited by Samuel Jaberg. Adapted from French by Julia Bassam\/ts\u00a0<\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Swiss Abroad\n <\/p>\n What the Swiss living in the US think of abortion restrictions <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n Mar 13, 2025 <\/p>\n Nearly 100 Swiss nationals living in the United States gave us their views on the tightening of abortion rights in several states. <\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Karin-Stricker-et-Alex.jpg\")
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